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interest taken in the work by these lads was ample evidence that the opportunity afforded to those who could not spare the time to take a full course at a district high school or a secondary school was fully-mppreciated, and it is to be hoped that a good many will avail themselves of a similar course next year. In looking into the number of Standard VI proficiency certificates actually granted to scholars in New Plymouth for 1910, it was found that over 30 per cent, of the holders did not avail themselves of free tuition eith«r at the New Plymouth High School or at the technical evening classes. Many of these, of course, go to work or leave the district, but inquiries show that all are not thus accounted for. There would seem little need in a Dominion such as ours for children who pass the Sixth Standard of our schools with proficiency at the age of twelve or fourteen to go straight to work. The majority of parents can well afford to allow them to continue their education until sixteen or seventeen years of age. To meet the demand of those wishing their children to receive a further education along commercial or industrial lines it is intended to establish in connection with the Technical College day classes offering a course in commercial subjects, such as commercial English, arithmetic, geography, book-keeping and accounts, prem-writing and correspondence, shorthand and typewriting, &c. An industrial course, including mathematics, building and machine drawing and construction, mechanics, woodwork, metal-work, &c, will also be offered, and a domestic course comprising cookery, science of common life, hygiene, physiology, millinery, dressmaking, &c, will be drawn up for those who do not intend to take up commercial work. It was felt thit the compulsory military training scheme would militate somewhat against the classes, hence it was thought wise to have our students drafted into a company connected with the College, and to have the drill nights arranged so as not to interfere with the classes held in the evening. Outside classes in dressmaking were carried on at Opunake and Hillsborough. The Sash and Door Company were good enough to present a complete wood-turning outfit to the school. A sum of money was needed to purchase motive power and fittings, and a canvass among those interested in the matter resulted in some £25 being collected. The lathe and accessories should prove a welcome addition to the school, and be of value to those in the woodwork trades. Stratford Centre. —Technical classes in wool-sorting were held at Toko, Te Wera, and Kohuratahi ; in dairy science at Midhirst and Ngaere ; in dressmaking at Stratford and Tariki; and in book-keeping, prem-writing, and drawing at Stratford. Continuation classes in English, arithmetic, Latin, and junior mathematics were held at Stratford. .Good work was done in the wool-sorting classes, one of which was established forty-three miles east from Stratford. For his earlier lessons the instructor found a difficulty in getting enough wool, and wool of different varieties for classing purposes. Later, however, he procured some from the South Island, mostly of fine texture, and this, with the local supplies available —mostly of a coarse texture —gave his students plenty of material. These classes should be further extended next year. It is disappointing that classes in dairy science were held at only two centres. These two classes, however, were well attended, and by the best type of student—the young farmer —and the course of instruction was a very valuable one. Dairy science is a subject of such vital importance to the settlers of our province that efforts should be made to establish classes in that subject throughout the whole district. The gradual extending eastwards of the railway-line should make it possible for classes in this subject to be established in the locality of which Te Wera is the centre, and a visit of the Board's Technical Organizer to that locality should be followed with good results. The students taking the rural course during 1911 in Stratford District High School have been instructed in the following subjects : Physics, chemistry, agriculture, dairying, wood and iron work, surveying, cookery, dressmaking, hygiene, and physiology. The aim in all the work has been the same throughout —viz., to make the teaching as practical as possible. In chemistry and physics the work in the laboratory has been designed in such a way that it forms the groundwork for the cognate subjects, agriculture, dairy-work, chemistry, and hygiene. The second-year students have in this way been enabled to take physical measurements and agriculture in the Civil Service Examination, and in the future it is proposed that intending candidates will be able to present themselves for examination in chemistry, dairying, and agriculture. In agriculture special attention has been paid to the preparation of the seed-bed, and the subsequent care of the seedling. This has been made possible by the erection of a greenhouse in the school-grounds, and the boys who prepared the seed-bed and the ground for the tomato-plants have now the satisfaction of seeing the house well filled with healthy fruit-bearing plants. Experiments on the growing of lucerne have also been conducted with satisfactory results. The dairying classes have had practical instruction in the chemical and physical properties of milk, and every student in the class has estimated the water, total solids, and fat in milk, and the moisture and fat in butter. Hygiene and physiology have been treated on broad lines, special attention being directed to the digestion of food, the elementary analysis of food, and ventilation. The boys have taken much interest in surveying, and towards the end of the year were engaged in plotting various traverses by means of a sighting-compass. The whole course of work as taken in the District High School is becoming deservedly popular with parents and pupils alike, and greater numbers of-children may confidently be expected in the rural classes each succeeding year. The average number on the roll for last year was 49. At present the course of work is arranged to extend over only two years, and to bring the students up to the standard of the Civil Service Junior Examination. It is desirable, however, that work should not stop here, and arrangements should be made by which it could be carried on for an additional two years, and its scope extended to the requirements for the Civil Service Senior Examination. The decision of the Board to establish two Senior Scholarships, with dairy-work, agri culture, &c, as compulsory subjects for examination, should help materially in this direction. To provide efficient instruction for senior rural students, however, would, with the present school staff available, be scarcely possible, and before it could be undertaken a reconstruction of the staff would be necessary to enable the rural work to be carried out efficiently, as the difficulties experienced last year have again emphasized the necessity of having on the staff at least one female teacher with science qualifications. Inglewood Centre. —During the year classes in book-keeping and dressmaking were established : only one term in each, however, was carried on, the support promised not being sufficient for a second